A Little Chicken and Rice

A Little Chicken and Rice is a hand-prepared make-your-own chicken bog kit and booklet. The project focuses on the deep history of this chicken and rice dish to the Pee Dee and neighboring Lowcountry. The included booklet includes eight stories of bog chefs from up and down the South Carolina coast, who think about what the dish means to them. The kit contains two spice mixtures (stock seasoning and yellow rice), as well as chicken salt and pepper. Also included are two packages of Carolina Gold Rice, and a choose-your-own adventure recipe card that will get your started on your bog making journey.

A Little Chicken and Rice is Sold in Two Versions:


Deluxe Chicken Bog Basket

Deluxe Basket Kit

  • (1) 4oz Stock Seasoning Jar
  • (1) 4oz Yellow Rice Seasoning Jar
  • (1) 4oz Black Pepper Jar
  • (1) 4oz Chicken Salt Jar
  • (2) 8oz Bags of Carolina Gold Rice
  • (1) Booklet (written/designed by students from interviewees and project contributors)
  • (1) “Suggested” Bog Recipe Card
  • (1) Wooden Basket
  • (4) Custom Designed Post Cards
  • (4) Custom Designed Kitchen Magnets


Chicken Bog Kit

Classic Box Kit

  • (1) 4oz Stock Seasoning Jar
  • (1) 4oz Yellow Rice Seasoning Jar(1) 2oz Black Pepper Jar
  • (1) 2oz Chicken Salt Jar
  • (2) 8oz Bags of Carolina Gold Rice
  • (1) Booklet (written/designed by students from interviewees and project contributors)
  • (1) “Suggested” Bog Recipe Card
  • (1) Wooden Box

 

The Project

A Little Chicken and Rice tells the story of South Carolina's most famous unknown dish. Whether you know the dish as perlou or bog, this classic combination of chicken, rice and sausage has been bringing people together for a century.

The accompanying booklet tells the history of this little-known dish and its roots in the enslaved West Africans who worked the rice plantations, with influences from the Middle East and Northern Africa. The book features eight stories of individuals from Murrells Inlet to Loris, each who have perfected their version of the dish. Every cook has their own twist: some add yellow rice, some prefer dry-smoked sausage, some use smoked turkey necks---but everyone speaks of the importance of chicken bog to Carolina home cooking.

It is one thing to talk about bog and another to eat it. The make-your-own bog kit contains a starter recipe with multiple variations on this classic, so you can start on your own bog making journey. The most simple way of cooking chicken bog is to boil a whole chicken with nothing but salt and pepper, then add your rice and sausage.

Special Thanks

Special thanks to the numerous individuals who contributed their time (and bog/bogg/perlou/pilau) to the project: Ricky Dew, Glenn Roberts, Singleton Baily, Tory Gibson, Veronica Gerald, Wayne Skipper, Latonya Gore, Melissa Todd, Timmy Todd, Eula Mae Winningham, Joel Floyd, JW, the students of North Myrtle Beach High School, Greg Johnsonman and Vaerie Irwin. A special thanks to the employees at Carolina Rice Plantation for supplying us with rice for this project.

Sara Wood of UNC Chapel Hill offered numerous insights early on in this project, and Gillian Richards-Greaves offered her expertise in foodways and food cultures. Thank you to the time of the staff of the Edwards College at CCU: Sara Sobota, Michael DiGiorgio, Logan Woodle, Drake Cartrette, David Ridenour, and catering staff Jennifer Frederickson and Jerome Coleman. And to Dan Ennis for both the inception of this project, and endlessly shaming us for including carrots in our stock recipe.

Credits

Student Contributors

  • Alisa Alice, Graduate Researcher and Writer
  • Kaitlyn Cegielski, Graphic Designer
  • Katina Hope Eckert, Graphic Designer and Illustrator
  • Nellie Grey Eckert, Graphic Designer
  • Brooks Leibee, Videographer and Researcher
  • Valerie McLaurin, Graduate Researcher and Writer
  • Hannah Smith, Writer
  • Cameron Sopa, Writer
  • Emily Thibeault, Videographer
  • Bobby Walls, Photographer and Researcher
  • Ken Wilson, Writer and Researcher

Athenaeum Press Staff

  • Trisha O'Conor, Director
  • Alli Crandell, Project Manager
  • Scott Mann, Art and Production Manager
  • Cali Duncan, Program Assistant
  • Mackenzie Hare, Student Graphic Designer